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There's always `room for Lauraine' here

In Frank Capra's 1946 movie, It's A Wonderful Life , mortgage lender Jimmy Stewart says that owning a home is a &#34;fundamental urge. It's deep in the race for a man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace.&#34;

In Frank Capra's 1946 movie, It's A Wonderful Life, mortgage lender Jimmy Stewart says that owning a home is a "fundamental urge. It's deep in the race for a man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace."

More than six decades later, that attitude is as strong as ever. In a 2009 Genworth Financial Canada survey – conducted by Environics Research Group – 84 per cent of Canadians said owning a home gives them a greater sense of emotional well-being and security and that there is a value in owning that goes beyond financial value. And 80 per cent reported that owning a home made them feel more personally fulfilled.

So, all you renters, remember that and try to keep the smirk off your face next time someone tells you that buying a home is a rational, financially-based decision.

Or talk to Cathy Bertolo, a 51-year-old literacy teacher and lifelong renter who has never regretted sidestepping home ownership.

For the past seven years she's lived in a three-storey brownstone walk-up, dating to approximately the 1920s, in north Rosedale. The unit is a two-bedroom-with-a-den on two storeys (the second floor, once an attic, is now a bedroom with rooftop deck), which Bertolo estimates at around 650 square feet and worth the $1,040 monthly rent.

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"It suits me," she says, noting that during her two months off in the summer she spends much of it at a family camp on Lake Superior, not far from her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie. "So in the summer, Lauraine has the place to herself whenever she wants."

Bertolo is sitting with her childhood friend, 57-year-old Lauraine Robertson, on the deck. Bertolo is a compact woman with shoulder-length golden blonde hair and a laconic manner. Robertson, who is tall with short grey hair, is a semi-retired psychologist and director of a consultancy called Learning Skills Development. Robertson lives in Port Perry but when she's in Toronto, one or two days a week, she stays with Bertolo.

"I upgraded Lauraine's sleeping arrangement recently," says Bertolo. "I bought a new mattress and box spring. Before that she had a bed on the floor."

"She was trying to bring out my inner bohemian," says Robertson. "But I already did the sleeping-on-the-floor thing in university."

"You're just getting old," says Bertolo and both women laugh.

Since opposites attract, it's easy to see why they get along. Bertolo is impulsive and forthright with a nomadic streak. Robertson is empathetic and cooperative, inclined to facilitate social harmony. Together they dote, each in their own way, on seven-year-old Cody, a black and white cat whose name is a diminutive of "co-dependent."

The back of Bertolo's apartment looks onto the 125-year-old St. Michael's Cemetery, which lies on four hectares hidden in the middle of four city blocks, ringed by the backs of homes, office buildings and stores. Next door is the historic Balmoral Fire Hall, which was built in an era when a fire meant the arrival of horse-drawn hose wagons. From the deck Bertolo and Robertson point out a tower that was used to dry 15-metre hoses.

Bertolo, the youngest of three daughters, came to Toronto from the Sault in 1983 to get a teaching certificate. A year later she moved to Greece and then to Italy for five years, teaching ESL. When she returned to Toronto in 1990 there were few jobs for teachers so she ended up back in the Sault for most of the decade working in the office of her father's gravel business. Having taught summer school in Toronto a few times, she finally decided to move back in 2000 and got a job almost immediately at Ryerson Community School in Chinatown teaching special literacy programs to the children of recent immigrants. At first, she lived in a tiny junior one-bedroom in the sister building next door to the one she's in now, but in 2003 she moved into her present home.

"Maybe it's because I'm from a small town but condos make no sense to me," says Bertolo. "I don't want to pay $350,000 and not even own any land. Maintenance fees scare me and I've always been worried I couldn't afford a house in Toronto. You pay for everything. Here I pick up the phone and say, `Jack, my pipe broke,' and he fixes it.

"Besides," she adds. "I still feel restless. This is the longest I've ever stayed in one place in my life but at least I know that when I rent I can just give notice and leave if I decide to teach in the Northwest Territories tomorrow."

Robertson, who has been listening to the conversation, says: "She's always making noises about doing things like that."

What about the cultural expectations of personal fulfilment? I ask her. And the way home ownership is a symbol of success in the eyes of many people?

"I care so little about other people's opinions that I've never even thought about that," she says firmly. Pausing to think about it further, she adds: "No, I really don't give a shit about that. I just want to be safe and warm and comfortable. This place is cute and reasonably priced. And there's room for Lauraine."

David Hayes is an author and award-winning feature writer who has been a renter most of his life. If you have stories or information to share about renting, he can be reached at lifelong_renter@sympatico.ca.

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